A gentle way to age

摘要

The day started much like any other. Researcher Daniel Burns and his colleagues were keeping a respectful distance behind a pair of courting humpback whales. Then a third whale made an unexpected appearance. The new arrival began to press his attentions on the increasingly harassed female. Taking fright, she manoeuvred to place the research boat between herself and her suitors, leaving Burns and his team sandwiched between three 35-tonne whales, all shoving in different directions. "The adrenaline was pumping," says Burns, recalling how he braced himself on the bow of the six-metre vessel as it lurched precariously between the massive animals, each measuring about twice the length of the boat. But he and his team got what they came for: a sample ofwhale 'dandruff.